Here's a quick review of the 2012 Prius from Australia's consumer magazine "Choice". First thing you might notice is that we pay AUD 37,000 for the base model and AUD 50,000 for the loaded i-Tech pack. (Slightly cheaper in ACT.) The second thing you notice is that we only got the 2012 Prius in April.
Makes me feel that Choice is losing the plot. Really a rubish review and certainly not something that I would normally expect from the people at Choice. It had more of a feel of a review from some rev-head than a review of different concept.
They also forgot to mention the reverse camera as standard if they are on the high horse that NRMA would take. And parking assist? What about self parking??!!
Not particularly. I thought about putting it there, but it was a quick review and not really newsworthy. More of international interest to see the price we pay for a Prius down under. Choice Magazine has a very good reputation for independent reviews and defending consumer's rights. They have never accepted advertising in the magazine and buy almost all of the products they test so as not to be influenced or given special treatment. But they sometimes use criteria that don't seem too relevant. E.g. they reviews of GPS favour those with lots of Points of Interest over those with the right POI. But their reviews of home appliances have sometimes led to fines against dodgy manufacturers. So their review wasn't great, but the comments were good. There's a bunch from some bloke called "Bradders" and even a mention of PriusChat!
As I said in my comments (handle "Bradders") you can't buy a Corolla with those features at any price and that if you really want to save money for petrol, buy a Chery... except that the Chery J1 got a "Shonky" award from Choice for having plastic roof rails that could not be used to support any weight because they were just for looks.
